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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. plane — in geometry
  2. net — after costs
  3. net — in sport
  4. clip — a video
  5. cold — an illness
  6. drill — a practice
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. clip — to cut
  9. drill — army training
  10. cold — not warm
  11. bass — low music
  12. drill — the tool
  13. cap — a hat
  14. clip — for paper
  15. net — for catching
  16. perch — the fish
  17. cap — of ice
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. cap — a lid
  20. bass — the fish
  21. plane — a tool
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. perch — for a bird

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com